Suicide on the rise in Netherlands

According to Statistics Netherlands, 1,854 people in the Netherlands committed suicide in 2013, 101 more than in 2012. This is the sixth consecutive year that the number of suicides increased.

Statistic Netherlands reports that the number of suicides has never been so high. Currently suicide rate is currently 11.0 per 100 thousand inhabitants, on the same level as the early nineties. Compared to 2007, the suicide rate in the Netherlands increased by 25 percent.

Suicide is concentrated increasingly in the middle ages of between 40 and 65 years. More than half of those who died by suicide were in this age group. There is also an increase in the suicide rate among young people aged between 10 and 20 years, from 2 per 100 thousand to 3 per 100 thousand. Mortality by suicide declined in the other age groups, especially among the over 80s.

Despite the sharp increase in the number of suicides in recent years, the level of suicide in the Netherlands is relatively low. The suicide rate is higher in our neighboring countries, except in the United Kingdom.